Reporting Smoky Vehicles

The public can help to reduce vehicle emissions by reporting lorries and buses which are extremely smoky to the government's Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA). They will contact the vehicle operator and investigate the report.

To report a problem, you can contact the local VOSA Officer, or telephone their national helpline on 0870 60 60 440.

You can download a Smoky Vehicle Report Form in either PDF or Word format from the VOSA website (see Other Websites).

To report a smoky or suspect HGV/PSV vehicle you will need to give some basic information:

• The vehicle registration number (displayed on the number plate)

• The type of vehicle (be as specific as possible)

• The date, time and place where you saw the vehicle, and if possible,

• The name of the vehicles operator (the company or owner)

When you contact VOSA, you will not normally be informed of any action taken, but if you see the vehicle regularly you will be able to see if the problem has been fixed.

You can report persistent offenders again, which means that further action will be taken. If no action has been taken then it may simply be that the operator or smoke emissions do not actually break the rules.